'Switched at Birth' goes silent to make a point

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Published 5:54 pm, Friday, March 1, 2013

Photo: Eric McCandless, HONS

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This publicity image released by ABC Family shows Karla Gutierrez, left, and Ashley Shimizu in a scene from ABC Family's TV series, "Switched at Birth." When news of the school's closing spreads, the students of Carlton School for the Deaf stage a protest. (AP Photo/ABC Family/Eric McCandless) less

This publicity image released by ABC Family shows Karla Gutierrez, left, and Ashley Shimizu in a scene from ABC Family's TV series, "Switched at Birth." When news of the school's closing spreads, the students ... more

Photo: Eric McCandless, HONS

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The ABC Family TV series "Switched at Birth" explores life in a high school for deaf students.

The ABC Family TV series "Switched at Birth" explores life in a high school for deaf students.

Photo: Eric McCandless, HONS

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This publicity image released by ABC Family shows from left, Marlee Matlin, Katie Leclerc and Brian Gutierrez in a scene from ABC Family's TV series, "Switched at Birth." When news of the school's closing spreads, the students of Carlton School for the Deaf stage a protest. (AP Photo/ABC Family/Eric McCandless) less

This publicity image released by ABC Family shows from left, Marlee Matlin, Katie Leclerc and Brian Gutierrez in a scene from ABC Family's TV series, "Switched at Birth." When news of the school's closing ... more

Photo: Eric McCandless, HONS

'Switched at Birth' goes silent to make a point

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LOS ANGELES - "Until hearing people walk a day in our shoes, they will never understand," says a guidance counselor at a high school for deaf students in "Switched at Birth."

Such insights are a staple of the ABC Family drama, a TV rarity that puts deaf characters, played by deaf or hard-of-hearing actors, at the center of the action.

But Monday's episode takes it a bold step further: Save for a few spoken words at the beginning and the end, it is silent. The actors' hands do the talking with American Sign Language, even rapping together in one gleeful sequence.

Subtitles, which are typically sprinkled throughout "Switched at Birth" episodes, keep the viewer clued in. But when a deaf character is confused because she can't hear something vital, the audience is, too. It's powerfully disconcerting.

The cast, including Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin as the school counselor, is excited about what they see as a grand experiment and eager for viewer reaction.

"This is an opportunity for the hearing person to watch at home and try to experience it," said Katie Leclerc, who stars as deaf teenager Daphne Vasquez.

"It's not exactly the same, but maybe you can try to imagine what your everyday life would be like."

"It's a risk," added Leclerc, who has an inner ear disorder, Meniere's disease, that can cause hearing loss and vertigo.

"A big risk," Matlin said through a sign-language interpreter. "But it's going to be an eye-opener. I'm very proud to be part of this risk-taking, history-making episode."

Matlin knows about making history. She was the first - and remains the only - deaf person to receive an Academy Award acting trophy, honored as best actress for 1986's "Children of a Lesser God."